Saying NO to bullies

WARNING : CRISPS IS ENGLISH FOR CHIPS. There are also chips which are chips.

I think back to my school days occasionally and this incident popped into my head. Something I’ve always wondered about.

One thing a child knows,which can cause alacrity or anxiety is that, if youre young enough, a lot of rules don’t apply to you.  You can get a way with a lot as you are too young.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to my advantage as I wasn’t the person who went round beating people up.

Its an irony that the toughest people you saw in school,were the people you never saw. They were so tough they never came to school.

But if you ever did see them,when you were about 13, they looked like 30 year old men.

A young Buzzard

I remember there was Buzzard,who had a mohawk. I just thought it amazing that,back when nobody was anything, he had this amazing haircut and -unbelievably- his nickname was completely unrelated to it.

I also remember Windy. Also a nickname. Fortunately based on his surname – Stephen Wind.

He kept a snooker ball in his pocket and ‘pocked’ me on the head with it one lunchtime. Not reacting seemed the best choice as windy would fight without even needing the drop of a hat.

Every now and again,after a school fire, these were the guys whose names came up.

The nameless one

Me and my friend were eating crisps round the back of the gym one day. I saw windy and this one other guy both walking towards me. He had the swagger of confidence and I had never seem him before. My anxiety shot up. The guy was a complete man. A boxer. A Hairy Wolf with a uniform 2 sizes too small because his muscles had grown so much since the morning.

Windy, formerly the toughest guy in school,looked quiet and reserved. The new tough guy,walked straight up to me.

My friend disappeared off to the side,knowing what was about to happen.

“Can I have a crisp?”

“No,” I said.

“Give me a crisp.”

“No.”

The guy was persuading me to give him a crisp.   He could have killed me with his little finger.

I’m thinking,why did I say no? Why didn’t I just give him the packet?

“OK. You can have one.”

Windy stood there,balls in pocket, just looking.

This monster, whose hair was visibly growing, stared at me, reached into the packet and, here’s the thing –

He took two crisps,with a cheeky smile.

Then he and windy walked off without a thought.

The rule of crisps

Why didn’t they just beat me up? Why didn’t they just take the crisps? Windy had already hit me in the head with a snooker ball. These people had no respect for rules or any people at all.

What is it about crisps that seem to give immunity from violence?

Would you like one?